The OneWeb-Eutelsat merger has been presented as Europe’s entry into the space race. It’s the only company currently competing with Musk’s Starlink in the low-orbit market. But to stake its claim as Europe’s space giant, Eutelsat must first navigate the complicated post-Brexit politics. France’s Eutelsat and Britain’s OneWeb were partly owned by their respective governments, and both countries will continue to hold stakes in the new company.

Berneke admits that Brexit has brought its share of challenges. “But there was a desire on both sides to go to the other side of the Channel to try to find a good way to collaborate,” she said. If Europe wants a national satellite giant, Britain and France will have to resolve their differences. “[OneWeb’s fleet] is going to be one of the only constellations not based in the United States for a while,” she says.

The politics of Brexit are not the only obstacle. OneWeb’s Gen One satellites need to be upgraded, and Eutelsat plans to have more advanced Gen Two satellites in orbit by 2027. Berneke says this upgrade will cost between 3 and 4 billion euros (3.3 to $4.4 billion), a bold move for a company with a reputation for playing it safe.

Analysts at JP Morgan called the merger “high risk.” But Berneke says this new approach to running the company is a conscious decision, partly influenced by Musk. “Starlink has truly, truly innovated, making [satellite] much more industrial launches,” she says. “I think it’s a question that we should all look at and ask ourselves, ‘How can we move much, much faster?’ It’s also about being open to risk.

SpaceX’s willingness to take risks was demonstrated by its close collaboration with the Ukrainian government, which exposed Starlink satellites to Russian jamming attacks. Eutelsat was drawn into the war for another reason. In November, Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko published an article in a French newspaper The Worldaccusing Eutelsat of continuing to broadcast television channels broadcasting Russian propaganda. Berneke did not deny these claims. “We have always had what we call a policy of neutrality,” she says. Eutelsat follows guidelines issued by French media regulator ARCOM on which channels are and are not sanctioned.

Berneke resists the idea that leaders should apply their own sanctions in addition to legally binding restrictions – a trend that has accelerated since Russia invaded its neighbor. Apple, for example, voluntarily halted product sales in Russia following pressure from the Ukrainian government. “We’re not going to try to do more ourselves,” she said.

Instead, she says this stance gives the company more legitimacy to respond when regimes, like Iran, don’t want certain Western channels broadcasting locally.

In October 2022, the company accused the Iranian regime of jamming its satellites. “We did all kinds of technical loops and loops to make sure we kept broadcasting because we had paying customers and we thought it was important that the channels weren’t sanctioned,” she says. “So it goes both ways.”